Rejoice! ‘Demon’s Souls’ Servers Staying Online

About once a year, Atlus would announce that the Demon’s Souls servers would remain online. While good news, gamers would remember that eventually, server operations would have to end. Thankfully – and contrary to a disappointing previous announcement – the severs will stay online for the foreseeable future.

Last month, Atlus said they would be taking the Demon’s Souls servers offline on May 31st, 2012. While the PS3-exclusive RPG is nearly three years old in North America, the online component was a big part of what made Demon’s Souls so unique. The original announcement certainly caused distraught among fans of the game – including those who still have yet to play it.

However, Atlus has made a “number of developments,” allowing them to keep the servers online. They did not give a specific time frame aside from the “foreseeable future“, but at least players have more time to invade games as Black Phantoms!

Atlus’ Tim Pivnicny had the following to say:

“We’re incredibly excited to be able to announce that the Demon’s Souls online experience will persist for a while longer. While it originally seemed as though it would be unfeasible for us to continue to sustain the servers, a number of developments have made it possible for us to continue to invest in and support our fans as they have continued to invest in and support us and Demon’s Souls. For all the gamers who have yet to discover the game’s amazing online experience, we’re happy to say you can still log on and find out why Demon’s Souls is still regarded by many as one of the finest games of all time.”

With the Demon’s Souls servers remaining online, it means that more than just the game’s PvP features will remain. The servers were also responsible for retaining the messaging system in Demon’s Souls, allowing players to leave the messages for others in the environment. Bloodstains will still populate levels, allowing gamers to view the deaths of other players.

I’ve been playing quite a bit of Demon’s Souls these past few days – hoping to finally beat it. While the game is still fully functional offline, the online really adds something to the game, and it’s great that Atlus is still able to offer it. If you’re not a PS3 gamer and want to see what all of the fuss is about, check out the “sequel” Dark Souls available for the HD consoles, which also make its way to PC soon.